The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced that it has begun charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines for basic capabilities, such as posting messages, citing this as ‘a trial aimed at reducing spam.’
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who paid $44 billion to purchase Twitter last year, has long voiced concerns about spam, bots, and phony accounts on the network. He has also made several contentious changes to the service that have drawn harsh criticism from users worldwide. In the ‘Not A Bot’ trial, new users in the Philippines and New Zealand will be required to pay an annual fee to be able to create content on X, interact with posts by liking and reacting to them, and save information by bookmarking.
The business stated on its website that the goal of this new program is to protect users from bots and spammers who try to manipulate the platform and interfere with other X users’ experiences.
In a different post on X, it clarified that ‘it is not a profit driver.’ ‘As of right now, the primary at-scale solution is subscription options.’ The approach, which would cost about $0.75 for new users in the Philippines and $0.85 for those in New Zealand every year, will not affect current users, as claimed by the company. According to the corporation, those who choose not to pay will only be able to access X in read-only mode. Musk has stated that 90% of the bots were already eliminated in June.
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